Manufacturing a non-transparent tape, such as, for example, a metal tape that may be used as a substrate for a high-temperature superconductor (HTS) coated conductor, involves uncoiling a coiled tape, performing an operation with the tape, and recoiling the processed tape. Examples of operations that may be performed may include rolling, texturizing, polishing, cleaning, and a variety of coating operations. Rolling involves creating a tape having an appropriate thickness. Texturizing may be used to create a tape having an appropriate epitaxial template for creating a high-temperature superconductor material over the length of the tape. Cleaning involves removing undesirable features, such as, for example, foreign particulate matters, oils and solvents. Polishing involves creating a tape having an appropriate surface quality. Precoating, as an alternative to texturizing, may be used to create a tape having an appropriate epitaxial template for creating a high-temperature superconductor material over the length of the tape. Coating involves creating a high-temperature superconductor material over the length of the tape. Recoating may be used to encapsulate the high-temperature superconductor material.
It would be desirable to assure that a tape possesses an appropriate surface quality prior to processing so that the processing yields the desired product. Also, it would be desirable to monitor the surface quality during processing to understand that the desired product may be yielded. Furthermore, it would be desirable to characterize the surface quality after processing to understand that the desired product has been yielded.
Some surface quality characterization techniques for metal tapes involve operations that adversely affect the tape integrity. For example, destructive analysis involves cutting sections of a tape, characterizing the section and inferring the quality of the entire length of the tape on the basis of the several sections. There are at least two problems with this approach: the inference can create a false result that may result in good product being set aside and bad product released for further processing and destructively removing sections is counter to the goal of creating long continuous sections of tape.
Other surface quality characterization techniques, although an improvement over destructive analysis, are only capable of determining surface quality when the tape is stationary. These operations involve a repetition of advancing, stopping and observing the tape surface. This repetition is time-consuming, and, therefore, inefficient and cost ineffective. Also, this repetition is incompatible with the advantages associated with continuous processing of tapes.
Thus, there remains a need for a new and improved tape manufacturing system that is capable of continuously processing a tape while at the same time including a tape-surface-inspection unit capable of continuously characterizing the surface of the non-transparent tape.